On May 30, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court ordered a stay on the Centre’s ban on sale of cattle for slaughter in markets. Now, if the Union government is to be believed, it was issued following a Supreme Court directive. On July 13, 2015, the apex court, responding to a PIL on large-scale animal smuggling out of India to Nepal and Bangladesh, had directed the government to frame guidelines to put a stop to this.

Meanwhile, the court also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of then Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) director-general, B.D. Sharma, to look into the matter. Based on the panel’s suggestions, on July 12, 2016, the court directed the environment ministry to frame rules under Section 38 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960. The government claims the Animal Welfare Board of India prepared the draft rules incorporating the recommendations of the SC and the environment ministry, and on May 23, issued a gazette notification, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017, banning sale of cattle—including cow, calf, bull, bullock, buffalo, heifer, steer and camel—for slaughter at animal markets. The court, though, had not made any recommendations on a ban. One suggestion of the Sharma committee was to reform and regulate animal markets.

The fate of the notification will be known in the next four weeks when the Centre responds to the Madras High Court. The Union government has got support from the Kerala High Court which, while responding to a PIL, expressed surprise (on May 31) at the Madras HC order, saying the Centre’s notification doesn’t ban cattle slaughter.